author

 
Menu
Search
 
November 21, 2024
 

Today's print edition

Home Delivery
Subscribe for more access
Makiko Itoh

Meta

Twitter

@makiwi

Makiko Itoh
Makiko Itoh writes the Japanese Kitchen column, and is the author of the bestselling "The Just Bento Cookbook" and its sequel, "The Just Bento Cookbook 2." A Tokyo native, she runs two Japanese cooking blogs, JustHungry.com and JustBento.com.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink
Oct 28, 2011
Pig in Japan: the nation's most popular meat
The most popular type of meat by far in Japan is pork. Nearly as much pork is consumed as chicken and beef combined. It is particularly popular in Okinawa, Kyushu, and the Kanto area. My mother was born in Saitama Prefecture in the 1940s, and she doesn't remember eating beef except as a very special...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink
Sep 23, 2011
Forage your way into mushroom season
Edible mushrooms are a feature of the fall season in temperate climates worldwide, and Japan is no exception. The humid climate lends itself to the growth of all kinds of fungi, so it's easy to assume that mushrooms (or kinoko in Japanese) of all kinds have been included in the daily meals of the Japanese...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink
Aug 26, 2011
Curry — it's more 'Japanese' than you think
To many people in Japan, summertime is synonymous with hot and spicy food. Spices are believed to cool you down by making you perspire, as well as stimulating an appetite dulled by the sweltering weather. The quintessential spicy dish in Japan is curry, which is so popular that it's regarded, along with...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink
Jul 22, 2011
The nostalgic and sweet life of Kyoto
The world of wagashi, traditional Japanese confectionery, can be a little difficult to decipher. Not a few people are rather underwhelmed by their first taste of a typical wagashi such as daifuku, a sticky rice dumpling filled with an, sweet adzuki bean paste. Even if you can get over the strangeness...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink
Jul 22, 2011
Serving green tea in your own home
It's impossible to write out a recipe for wagashi in such a limited space, and just as impossible to acquire the skills you need to make them! So here is a recipe for making a proper glass of iced matcha tea, the perfect summertime accompaniment for refined jōgashi.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink
Jun 24, 2011
Keep a low-power kitchen this summer
Now that we are entering the hottest part of the Japanese summer, it's time to get really serious about saving electricity — in the kitchen as much as anywhere.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink
May 27, 2011
Farming without chemicals — or radiation
Yasunori Toyoguchi peers under the netting protecting a small rice paddy. "See," he says, pointing to some grassy shoots, "here's this year's crop, just starting to emerge." He scoops up a little of the water trickling over the mud with one hand. "See how clear and clean this is?" he asks. "The frogs...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink
Apr 22, 2011
The unmistakable taste of a new season
In these days of year-round growing of vegetables in temperature-controlled conditions and air shipments of fresh produce from around the world, it's all too easy to forget the seasons. But in Japan, seasonality is still highly treasured, and there's no time like the spring to enjoy certain vegetables...
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle
Apr 7, 2011
The best kindergarten lessons are at lunch time
Despite the devastation of the earthquake and tsunami in the northeastern part of Honshu, in most of Japan, life has to go on as usual.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink
Mar 24, 2011
Japan's unlikely hero: the humble rice ball
One of the quiet heroes to emerge in this time of grave crisis in Japan is the humble little white ball of rice called onigiri or omusubi.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink
Feb 25, 2011
Delicious dishes that are fit for a princess
Makiko Itoh SPECIAL TO THE JAPAN TIMES March 3 is Hina Matsuri, also known as Girls' Festival or Momo no Sekku (Peach Day). This day was a traditional seasonal and religious event on the lunar calendar, during the period when peach blossoms were in bloom — around early April on the Gregorian calendar....
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink
Jan 28, 2011
With sake rice, nothing goes to waste
Although sake is often described as "rice wine" to Westerners, sake is actually a fermented-grain beverage akin to beer, and unlike wine made from grapes it does not age well. So the winter months, when shinshu (freshly made new sake) is available, are the best time to enjoy this quintessentially Japanese...
LIFE / Food & Drink
Dec 24, 2010
Why not spend New Year's Eve totally soba?
The yearend period, called shiwasu, is a really hectic time in Japan. Think of it as spring cleaning, Thanksgiving and the usual end-of-year activities all rolled into one.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink
Nov 26, 2010
Reel in the catch of the season
The long, record-breaking hot summer hasn't been good for sanma, or Pacific saury. Catches of this normally inexpensive fixture of the fall dinner table in Japanese homes have been so poor that its prices have skyrocketed — if you can find any to buy at all. Another popular fish that is in peak season...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink
Oct 29, 2010
Not all white rice tastes the same
In Japan, the freshness and seasonality of ingredients used in cooking is of paramount importance. Even in this age of mass production and imported foods, people still care about the appearance of fresh bamboo shoots in spring, or the first matsutake mushrooms in fall.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink
Sep 24, 2010
We all deserve eggplants in fall
There is a famous old Japanese saying about aki nasu or fall eggplants: "Aki nasu yome ni kuwasuna" — "Don't let the daughter-in-law eat fall eggplant."
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink
Jul 30, 2010
Japanese dietary tips to prevent summer lethargy
Anyone who has spent a summer in Japan will likely be well- acquainted with natsubate, or "summer fatigue" — a general state of lethargy and tiredness, lack of concentration, sleeplessness and even mild depression.
Ishiba delays meeting with Trump, citing legal restrictions
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba waves upon arrival for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum, in Callao, Peru, on Friday.
Two of America’s biggest debt holders are dumping Treasurys
The U.S. Treasury building in Washington. Investors in Japan and China sold a pile of U.S. debt in the last quarter, just before the U.S. presidential election.
Rising sex tourism exposes loopholes in Japan's anti-prostitution law
While financial misfortunes during the COVID-19 pandemic may have driven some women to work the streets, others simply want more money to spend — or want to pay off their debts — at host clubs.
Japan ranks last in romance satisfaction for second straight year
In a survey of 31 countries, Japan ranked last in terms of those who felt loved, with just 51% of respondents saying so.
Ruling coalition and DPP strike last-minute deal over economic policy
DPP policy chief Makoto Mahaguchi speaks at the party's policy gathering in Tokyo on Wednesday.
Japan, U.K. and Italy discuss inviting more countries to joint fighter project
A new concept model of a next-generation fighter jet to be jointly developed by Japan, Britain and Italy is on display in Farnborough, Hampshire, in July.
Haruki Murakami's 'The City and Its Uncertain Walls' gives deep deja vu
For “The City and Its Uncertain Walls,” translated into English by Philip Gabriel, Haruki Murakami confronts the ghosts who won't leave him alone.
Japanese expats in Asia find community through rugby
The Taiwan Fivewoods celebrate their victory at the 2023 Asian Japanese Rugby Cup in December of last year.
In Fukushima, a weekend of prose, poetry and translation
Aomori-based writer JJ Carter presented on tabletop gaming as creative inspiration for building characters and narratives.
For Dr. Nakamats, aging is just experience in action
Though he didn't win the recent gubernatorial election in Tokyo, the 96-year-old Dr. Nakamats' run was seen as inspirational in Japan's aging society.

Podcast

One of the many entrances to the Kabukicho neighborhood in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward.
Kabukicho: Tokyo’s ‘stadium of desire’

Longform

Construction takes place on the Takanawa Gateway Convention Center in Tokyo, slated to open in 2025.
A boom for business tourism in Japan?
By Kathryn Wortley

SUSTAINABLE JAPAN

Azabudai Hills, Tokyo’s green new downtown ‘village’
Azabudai Hills, Tokyo’s green new downtown ‘village’

SPECIAL SUPPLEMENTS note

Read more

SUPPLEMENTS BINDER